Emily McCord

Emily’s love of music brought her to public radio, where she found her love for news. After receiving a Bachelor of Arts in music at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, she began her career in 2003 at WFIU Public Radio in Bloomington, Indiana, producing and hosting music and news programs and learning the behind-the-scenes work of public broadcasting. She joined WYSO in 2007 as the host of “All Things Considered” and jumped head first into news gathering. Emily’s been relishing it ever since-her reporting has earned her numerous AP Awards and a nationally recognized Gabriel Award. WYSO has been a fulfilling and exciting place for Emily, where she is privileged to work with a creative and supportive staff.

Tobacco growers are about to face a completely free market. This month, they'll receive their last checks from a government program meant to ease them out of a Depression-era tobacco-price-fixing system.

That has left Stanley Smith, who grows about 60 acres of tobacco on his farm not far from Winston-Salem, N.C., feeling a little unsettled.

"I've farmed all my life," Smith says. "I think the best way to sum it up is our safety net now is gone."

The Air Force continues to grapple with the number of sexual assaults among its members.

In March, Air Force Lt. Gen. Richard Harding and other legal officials for the military appeared before a Senate subcommittee to address rape in the services. The hearing was spurred by a general's decision to overturn a jury's sexual assault verdict on a U.S. Air Base in Aviano, Italy.

If there's one common language that some recent immigrants in Dayton, Ohio, seem to share, it's soccer.

The first Dayton World Soccer Games kicked off earlier this year, an initiative hosted by the city to welcome an influx of immigrants. On the field, a rainbow of brightly colored jerseys represented nearly 20 of the different immigrant communities in the city.

"I've been really surprised to see that there's a lot of soccer going on in Dayton," says Adolphe Bizwinayo, who left Rwanda as a refugee.

Symphony orchestras across the country are in turmoil. Musicians in Chicago went on strike (an action that ended on Sept. 24 with a new tentative agreement reached), their counterparts in Atlanta were locked out (with a new agreement reached on Sept. 26). Contracts for both the Minneapolis Orchestra and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra recently expired, and all sides seem to be at an impasse.

Symphony orchestras have seen a lot of labor disputes recently due to financial troubles. Musicians are on strike in Chicago. In Atlanta, they've been locked out. Contracts for both the Minneapolis Orchestra and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra expire Sunday with no immediate sign of settlements. Then there's the Dayton Philharmonic. As Emily McCord of member station WYSO reports, it seems to have solved its budget woes by merging with the city's opera and ballet.